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Actually, Ambrosia is the food of the gods. The drink of the gods, derived from the same Ambrosial source, apparently, is called Nektar (which is where we get our name for bee nectar from). The gods are immortal because their veins are filled with a divine substance called Ikhor, instead of human blood. Now, Ambrosia and Nektar is the sustenance of the gods, but it doesn't make them immortal. It does, however, extend the MORTAL lifespan by entering a human's bloodstream and converting their blood to Ikhor. The gods merely dine on Ambrosia and Nektar to replenish their strength and enhance their power, not to keep themselves immortal. Ambrosia is also used to heal injuries and as a perfume.
The most common version of the myth of Akhilles' heel states that his mother Thetis purified her baby in Ambrosia and then burnt him in a furnace for three days, which slowly (and painfully) removed his mortal flesh and replaced it with a divine body. Unfortunately, Thetis' human husband Peleus walked in on Thetis while she was burning their son, and mistook her for a murderess. Angered, Thetis revoked her gift and dived into the sea, leaving Akhilles with but a tiny point on his heel still mortal.
The other version of the myth states that Akhilles was dipped into the river Styx, rendering him invulnerable except for his heel, which Thetis held him by. This version is more well known nowadays but it is incongruous with most mythical accounts. The gods swore their most solemn oaths on the River Styx because whoever broke such an oath was consigned to drink of the Stygian waters, which robbed them of voice and reason for nine years.
Also, other myths acknowledge that annointing oneself with Ambrosia followed by purifying onself in fire is the only method by which a mortal can attain divinity. Demeter attempted this on the child of a family who showed great hospitality to her while she was wandering the earth in search of the kidnapped Persephone. Unfortunately, the couple had the same reaction to their burning son as Peleus, and Demeter left, angry that mortals did not understand the ways of the gods. Also, Herakles, after being accidentally and fatally poisoned by the blood of the centaur Nessus, laid himself upon a funeral pyre to die, but Zeus descended to bestow apotheosis upon his son's ruined body and make him a god.
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